Casper Woman Accused of Heroin Distribution Following Overdose

A Casper woman who allegedly worked with her boyfriend to sell heroin and pills could face decades of prison time if convicted of the three charges brought against her Wednesday morning in Natrona County District Court.

Ashlee Dawn Grant, 27, pleaded not guilty before District Judge Daniel Forgey to three charges: conspiracy to deliver heroin, delivery of heroin and misdemeanor heroin possession. Combined, the charges carry a maximum penalty of 41 years imprisonment and $51,000 in fines.

Charging papers say that in early 2017, agents with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation began receiving information that Grant and her boyfriend were involved with heroin in the Casper area.

In January, Grant allegedly admitted to agents with the Wyoming Department of Family Services that she had overdosed, but she would not specify the substance involved. Grant and her boyfriend both tested positive for opiates.

In early May, a confidential informant told a DCI special agent that they could buy heroin from Grant, and that Grant's boyfriend was the source of the heroin. The informant said that he/she could buy a gram of heroin for $230, and that Grant was willing to meet with an undercover agent who was working in an undercover capacity.

The following week, the informant made a recorded phone call to Grant and discussed meeting at the Big Lots parking lot, as it was only a few blocks from where Grant and her boyfriend needed to pick up the heroin.

Special agents gave the informant an audio-recording device and $230 in state buy funds. The informant exchanged that money for .9 grams of heroin, which was weighed at about 2 p.m. on May 9.

On June 6, a different confidential informant spoke with DCI agents and allegedly admitted to routinely getting heroin and unspecified pills from Grant and her boyfriend. The informant claimed to have gotten heroin from Grant and her boyfriend over 50 times, paying $23 dollars for one-tenth of a gram, or $115 for half a gram of heroin.

The informant also knew that Grant's source of heroin lived near Beverly Street in Casper.

On June 13, a Casper police officer stopped Grant's boyfriend's red 2000 Lincoln Navigator near Yellowstone and Beverly for a traffic violation. Grant's boyfriend was driving, Grant was in the front passenger seat and a second man was in the back seat next to Grant's baby.

The second man was arrested on an outstanding warrant, and police allegedly found suspected methamphetamine inside his wallet.

A search of the Lincoln allegedly turned up syringes, spoons with suspected heroin residue, a digital scale and other drug paraphernalia inside a bag that contained items for the baby.

Grant later told police that she had not used meth or heroin in the previous six months. She denied possessing any of the contraband, and blamed it on the man who had been in the back seat.

Grant's boyfriend reportedly told officers the same thing.

Grant and her boyfriend were arrested on multiple drug and child endangerment charges. The Wyoming Department of Family Services took protective custody of the baby.

A DFS agent later told police that Grant's urine tested positive for THC, methamphetamine and opiates. Grant then allegedly admitted using meth and heroin the previous day, and said her boyfriend had used heroin the day prior as well.

Results from the state crime lab returned in October showed an item tested positive as heroin and weighed .83 grams.

In mid-October, Grant told DCI agents that she and her boyfriend had been doing well since their arrest in June.

When agents told Grant that an undercover agent had purchased heroin from her and her boyfriend, Grant immediately asked if "Jesse" was the one who wore the wire.